Why meditate? If you are lost in your head or are stressed out, make sure you are meditating to reground yourself in the present moment. Here are just SOME of the amazing benefits of meditation: - Overcome stress (University of Massachusetts Medical School, 2003)
- Boost your creativity (ScienceDaily, 2010) - Improve your sex life and increase your libido (The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2009) - Cultivate healthy habits that lead to weight loss (Journal Emotion, 2007) - Improve digestion and lower blood pressure (Harvard Medical School) - Decrease your risk of heart attack (The Stroke Journal, 2009) - Help overcome anxiety, depression, anger and confusion (Psychosomatic Medicine, 2009) - Decrease perception of pain and improve cognitive processing (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, 2010) - Increase your focus and attention (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2007) - Increase the size of your most important organ – your brain! (Harvard University Gazette, 2006) Meditation and its reduced risk on cardiovascular disease: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16463759 Meditation on the effects and prevention of depression: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3044190/ Some people use music during meditation, which has further been proven to to descrease stress. There is an amazing meditation CD that is tuned to the frequencies of the energy systems in the body (chakras) to promote spiritual and physical health. Samples can be heard here: http://www.islandjourneycd.com/Island_Journey/Spirit_Science_%26_Metaphysics.html
Sri Adi Shankaracharya - An ancient Indian philosopher as well as an Scientist. Sri Adi Shankaracharya is the preacher of Advaita (Non duality, Oneness) philosophy of Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma). He was born in 509 BC in Kerala of India. He mastered vedas, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Theology and other subjects in his childhood at the age of 8 only. Shankara spread the tenets of Advaita Vedanta, the supreme philosophy of monism to the four corners of India with his ‘digvijaya’ (the conquest of the quarters). The quintessence of Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism) is to reiterate the truth of reality of one’s essential divine identity and to reject one’s thought of being a finite human being with a name and form subject to earthly changes. According to the Advaita maxim, the True Self is Brahman (Divine Creator). Brahman is the ‘I’ of ‘Who Am I?’ The Advaita doctrine propagated by Shankara views that the bodies are manifold but the separate bodies have the one Divine in them. The phenomenal world of beings and non-beings is not apart from the Brahman but ultimately become one with Brahman. The crux of Advaita is that Brahman alone is real, and the phenomenal world is unreal or an illusion. Through intense practice of the concept of Advaita, ego and ideas of duality can be removed from the mind of man. The comprehensive philosophy of Shankara is inimitable for the fact that the doctrine of Advaita includes both worldly and transcendental experience. Shankara while stressing the sole reality of Brahman, did not undermine the phenomenal world or the multiplicity of Gods in the scriptures. Shankara’s philosophy is based on three levels of reality, viz., paramarthika satta (Brahman), vyavaharika satta (empirical world of beings and non-beings) and pratibhashika satta (reality). Shankara’s theology maintains that seeing the self where there is no self-causes spiritual ignorance or avidya. One should learn to distinguish knowledge (jnana) from avidya to realize the True Self or Brahman. He taught the rules of bhakti, yoga and karma to enlighten the intellect and purify the heart as Advaita is the awareness of the ‘Divine’. A famous quote from Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, one of his prakarana granthas that succinctly summarises his philosophy is: Brahma satyaṃ jagat mithyā, jīvo brahmaiva nāparah Brahman is the only truth, the spatio-temporal world is an illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and Atman(individual self). He was the first person who proposed the Concept of Indivisible atoms in his Advaita. In his works, Advaita, he explained philosophy as well as Atomic Science. Albert Einstein proposed the 'Theory of Relativity' after being inspired from works of Sri Shankaracharya's Advaita philosophy. Advaita and Theory of Relativity have many similarities. Adi Shankaracharya is the Father of Particle Physics, says Prof. V Suryanarayana Rao, Chairman of Foundation of Vedic Sciences. Shankara's diagram in SOUNDARYA LAHIRI of the PADMA (lotus) has been discovered as the source of God Particle by scientists with the recent accelerator experiment when the thousand-petalled lotus manifested while they brought proton in collision with another proton of the same particle. The Sri Chakra with its pinnacle, Mahameru, the tip of the iceberg, is the representation of the entire process of creation, sustenance to destruction with the triangles being the forces of Shiva (pure consciousness/spirit) and Shakti (energized consciousness/matter). There is ONE PARABRAHMAN (eternal, indescribable, attributeless, Nirguna) which is reflected as the world of MAYA (moving, filled with attributes, Saguna). A cosmic creative vibration (called sphota or explosion) arises between Shiva and Shakti called Nada. This Nada then gets consolidated into Shabda Brahman (differentiated sound energy), the universal cosmic resonance, symbolized by Om. From this arises cosmic intelligence that is responsible for the creation. According to some followers of Advaita, the non-dual monistic philosophy propounded by Adi Shankara, Advaita may very well be a place where the scientific world intersects with the spiritual world. They point to the relationships between mass, frequency, wave and energy that 20th century physics has established and the Advaitic ‘Unity of the Universe’ as the common ground. They feel that these relationships, formalized as equations by Planck and Einstein, suggest that the whole mesh of the Universe blend into a One that exhibits itself as many. This follows Advaita's view that everything is but the manifestation of a “One.” The scientific investigations show that a living body has an internal energy pattern of millions of sparkling lights and experiments suggest that the energy is neither electric nor electromagnetic. Some scientists thought that the energy was an emanation from nerve endings, but they were baffled to see that plants also possessed this energy pattern without any nervous system at all! The meanings of terms such as space and time take different dimensions when physics comes out with new discoveries and theories such as what Albert Einstein proposed where one is taken to the sphere of spacelessness and timelessness. The modern scientist is aware that he is standing on some strange shores. Einstein remarked that the most beautiful and the most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the most mystical. It is the source of all true art and science. Einstein rewrote the Newtonian concepts and revolutionized science. In a nutshell, it is observed that while moving, particles of elements disappear in our vision because mass times the square of the speed of light is being converted into energy. This was the turning point towards a trend to resolve several differences between the two so-called loggerheads, science and spirituality. The length of a train while static and while in motion, the speed of a moving object as observed by us when we are standing still and while moving ourselves, the time shown by wrist watches on people in a running train and clocks along the stations, the curves in space that cause magnetic attraction and gravitational fields and the importance of light that steadily travels in space at an unimaginable speed are observations that would baffle unless one accepts the spiritual stream flowing underneath. From the higher point of the changeless Absolute, everything is in constant change, hence relative. Max Planck, the eminent physicist, who revolutionized modern physics with his quantum theory observes that as a physicist, i.e., as a man who has devoted his life to the most matter of fact branch of science, namely the investigation of matter, he is surely free of any suspicion or fanaticism. After his research into the atom, he says, there is no such as matter per se! All matter originated from and consists of a force which sets the atomic particles in oscillation and concentrates them into minute solar systems of the atom. Since he did not believe in an intelligence or an internal force in the universe, he assumes a conscious intelligent spirit behind the force and calls this force, the basic principle of all matter. The Rishis called this energy body as Pranamaya-kosha. By prana they did not mean ordinary energy or breath. Prana is the vital energy associated with the Universal consciousness or it is the ‘force’ of a ‘conscious intelligent spirit.’ Therefore, they maintained that by the proper control and channelizing of the prana, man could expand his consciousness and evolve to higher states of being. How well the nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg amplifies this and suggests that we should revere those things beyond science which really matter and about which it is difficult to speak. Notable scientists like Erwin Schrodinger and Robert Oppenheimer were also Vedantists. Fritjof Capra's book, The Tao of Physics, is one among several that pursue this viewpoint as it investigates the relationship between modern, particularly quantum physics and the core philosophies of various Eastern religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. The author is enthralled by the beauty and mystery of NATARAJA and says there is a close connection between the dance of vibrations in the Quantum theory and the dance of Nataraja.
The intensive study on electric energy, electromagnetism, radioactivity, particles, wave theories, quantum physics and so on, have over the years led to an undeniable connection between the deepest truths and principles propounded in the sacred Vedas and Upanishads and scientific theories. Adi Shankarcharya lived only for 32 years. He died in 477 BC. In his short lifespan of 32 years, He wrote commentries on Karma siddhantam, Brahma sutras and Bhagavadgita which form foundation stones for understanding Hinduism. Source: Some of the Information is collected from वेद and http://www.narthaki.com/info/articles/art343.html
Anubhava Mantapa - The World's first Parliament. Anubhava Mantapa was the first parliment in history of mankind. Prabhudeva, a great Yogi of extraordinary achievement, was the president and Lord Basava acted as the prime minister. Chennabasava can be compared to the speaker while at the same time working as the editor, and compiler of Vachana literature. The only difference between the present day parliament and Anubhava Mantapa is that the members were not elected by the people, but were picked up or nominated by the higher authorities of the Mantapa; the necessary qualification expected being spiritual attainment. The problems tackled were of a various nature covering social, religious, spiritual, yogic psychological, economic and literary spheres. Members of the Mantapa and followers of the religion were given full freedom of thought, speech and action. They were allowed to put any questions or doubts to get them cleared in front of the congregation and a systematic program was launched to record and to preserve the dialogues that were going on in the House. These discussions reminisced us of Dialogues of Plato, the great Greek philosopher. But they differ from the later in being characterized by a high type of mystic experience. As silent documents we can see even today the caves cut out of the brittle stony hillocks, in and around the city of Kalyana. The people of high caste, with their vested interests tried to impose on the ignorant masses the idea that the former are the issues of meritorious ancestry and that the latter are of sinful birth. Owing to their ignorance the low-casts and untouchables laboured under the delusion that they were born to be slaves because of the sins committed during and inherited from their past births. They believed that to strive to improve their miserable plight was a heinous sin, and that to live where and as they lived was their life's purpose as well as its fulfillment. Anubhava Mantapa criticized sharply the meaningless differentiation of human beings as high or low either on their birth or on their occupation. Unique preaching's of equality charged with the acceptance of the parenthood of god and the fraternity of humanity fascinated the tortured minds and consoled the gasping hearts of the oppressed and distressed masses. The burning zeal of Basava to place religion on a democratic basis, his passionate love for God and his untiring energy in serving humanity added to the glory of Anubhava Mantapa . The Lingayath religion, being reformative in its out-looking was more progressive than aggressive. It placed more emphasis on evolution by tergiversation or change of mind rather than on sanguinary revolution. So it is not to say that Basaveshwara and his followers were imbued with an antagonistic spirit towards any other community. But, "Rev. N. C. Sargent aptly says, "Basava's aim was not to oppose or propose any religious or philosophical system; but to show people the existing social and religious evils and, if possible, to remove these evils from society". Source : Hindu news
How is it that all of a sudden, through 1000's of years of human history, all the great scientists of the western world were born together??? Was it a lottery into the materialistic development of countries like UK, USA, Germany, etc.???
Only an Indian, who is well aware of his culture can raise such a question, as westerners give less scope for going against them. The truth is that when Newton's forefathers were monkeys, Bhaskaracharya, an Indian scholar, wrote an entire book on gravity. Einstein was wise enough to accept that the source of inspiration for all his research was Indian culture. Our science, though lot more advanced, was never patented, as the generations who lived then, did lot of research beyond the materialistic world as well. But when thieves arrived our country, they had no option but to steal and register our research in their names. All they needed was a stamp which gave them a license to steal our research. Via Hindu news
ॐ "NALA " of Ramayana is the Son of SRI VISHWAKARMA. He is the world's first "Hydraulic Engineer."During Tretayuga, they helped LORD RAMA to create a Way to Lanka.
ॐ They decided to construct a long SETHU(Bridge) on the Indian Ocean for Lord Sri Rama and his Warriors(VANARAS) to reach Lanka and to defeat RAVANA in the Battle.
ॐ They made a Bridge comprising the Length of 48 Kilometers, Width 2.5 to 3 Km and a depth of 22Feets (Inside the sea) by using the Cranes, Drilling Machines and other materials, with the help of experts(in Vanara sena). Use of machines is described in Valmiki Ramayana 6-22-59.
ॐ Let us see how that was designed and constructed by Our Ancient Engineers.
ॐ NASA released some photographs of Ram Setu in 2002. According to research, these images show a chained arrangement of rocks which was sub-merged in water on the stretch between Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu of India(Bharat) and Talaimannar on Sri Lanka.
ॐ A study of the Shuttel RADAR topographic machine data reveals that Ram setu is 48 Kms long with 7 openings allocated at equal intervals to drain out water.
ॐ The Bridge is slightly Curve/Arc shape, so it can withstand high currents of water.
ॐ It has been construced in shallow waters which cannot be a natural formation.
ॐ Another fact which proves it to be a man-made structure is its width, which is 2.5 kms to 3 kms and it increases gradually ad it advances towars Sri Lanka. This design is in accordance with the rules of Modern Architecture.
ॐ Trethayuga's age cycle is 12,96,000 years, then later Dwaparayuga of 8,64,000 years) and the Kaliyuga( 4,32,000 Years). 5113 years have elasped in kaliyug till now. Lord Sri Ram incarnated at the end of Tretayuga. And ruled for 11,000 years. If we calculate the time period, 11,000 years+ 864,000 years+ 432,000 years+ some more years ruled by Kusha(Son of Lord Rama), the count reaches nearly 9,00,000 years. And it reveals that We Hindus know such high Engineering Techniques at that time.
ॐ Mr.Rajeev Deekshit gave a presentation of photographs which prove that stones in Ram setu were attached by the Bolts which are made up of Non-Corrosive metal and also by lime stone and clay in some portions.
ॐ This shows that RAMA SETHU is not a Natural Formation. It was man-made structure and is the proof of Scientific Heritage of Ancient India (Bharat). And it is proof that Sri Ramayana is not a myth but a historical event and it is our Ancient History.
ॐ Say it with pride: We are Hindus.
ॐ Save RamSetu- Save India’s pride.
ॐ Jai Hind
Millions of people bath in the River Ganga, or Ganges, during Kumbh Mela, Magh Mela and on other auspicious days? But rarely have we heard about the breakout of a major epidemic like Cholera or other waterborne diseases. Industrial waste and human waste is dumped into Ganga at several points but Ganga continues to amaze everyone with its purifying power. So what is the science behind the extraordinary power of Ganga? And does science have the all the clues to the purifying properties ofGanges?
In Hinduism, there is frequently a connection between mythology and science. Hindu scriptures say that bathing in Ganga purifies the sins of this birth and previous birth. Ganga Ma, or Mother Ganga, is a Goddess in Hinduism. Puranas and epics extol her greatness and she descends to the earth from the matted locks of Lord Shiva. A dying Hindu’s last wish is to have a few drops of Ganga water. Hindus have always believed that River Ganga has extraordinary power and it prevents diseases.
Julian Crandall Hollick in his series on River Ganga in NPR explores the science behind the extraordinary purifying power of River Ganga. You canlisten to the audio here.
Hindus are known to keep Ganga water in closed containers for various religious purposes. The water never goes bad or putrefies. This means that Ganga water contains lot of oxygen which can assimilate organic matter like human waste and vegetable matter. This property of Ganga is 25% more than any other river.
The amount of organic waste that goes into Ganga should have already exhausted the amount of oxygen. But this has not happened. There is some material present in Ganges that replenishes the oxygen content and kills the pathogens.
Interestingly, boiled Ganga water does not have the capability to kill pathogens. Similarly, Yamuna, a river which joins Ganges, does not contain the special material present in Ganga.
The most convincing answer to Ganga’s purifying property or to kill pathogens is associated with the bacteriophage present in its water. Bacteriophage enters bacteria present in the water and destroys it and multiplies inside it in millions and then bursts out searching for new bacteria. This one reason why there are no epidemics in Ganges when millions of people take bath during melas.
In simple terms, organic matter is assimilated by the special molecular structure of Ganga water and the bacteria is destroyed or maintained in the optimum level by bacteriophage. And thus the pathogens are contained by Ganga.
But bacteriophage, or phages, are present everywhere, it is not unique toGanges alone.
So the mystery still continues and one question still remains unanswered what is that particular property that allows Ganga to retain extraordinary amount of oxygen which is the root cause of all purifying activities taking place in the river.
In a few days time, Hindus will be observing Ganga Saptami, the day Ganga descended on earth, but the most revered river in the world,Ganga, has been enlisted on the list of 10 most endangered rivers of the world. The sand bed in the Ganga is increasing slowly and the increase is clearly distinguishable each year. A recent study of American scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) suggests that there is a reduced flow in Ganga. Two years back a study by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) had also indicated that Ganga might not reach the ocean in the distant future.
"The increasing sand bed, which defines the ecosystem, is an indicator of the gloomy future of the Ganga," predicted Uday Kant Chowdhary, a professor of civil engineering and coordinator of Ganga Research Laboratory, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (BHU). According to him, sand bed in the Gangais increasing five-six metre in width and 8-10cm in height annually. "It means the width of the river is reducing in proportion to the increase in sand bed," Chowdhary told TOI.
"The increasing sand bed, which defines the ecosystem, is an indicator of the gloomy future of the Ganga," predicted Uday Kant Chowdhary, a professor of civil engineering and coordinator of Ganga Research Laboratory, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (BHU). According to him, sand bed in the Ganga is increasing five-six metre in width and 8-10cm in height annually. "It means the width of the river is reducing in proportion to the increase in sand bed," Chowdhary told TOI.
According to him, factors like increasing pollution, over-extraction of water and reduced flow of the Ganga are causing slow death to the river. The unscientific extraction of river water through Bhimgauda Barrage to WesternGangaCanal is harming the river badly. The capacity of this barrage has been enhanced from 6,000 cubic feet per second to 9,000 cubic-ft per second, he said adding: "People in Delhi are drinking Gangajal (Ganga water) while the natives of the cities like Varanasi are using polluted water."
He said since the holy water was diverted towards Delhi in huge quantity, the velocity of the stream was reduced drastically on the Gangetic Plane. "The loss in quantity ultimately causes loss to the quality of the river water," he said. Besides, due to the increase in total dissolved solid (TDS) in water stored in reservoirs, the water loses its dissolved oxygen (DO) retention capacity. "The quantity and quality are interrelated," he pointed out.
Besides the reduced flow, increasing pollution load is also causing great harm to the river. The increase in pollution load in river water decreases its dilution factor. The dilution factor of the Ganga used to be 1,200-1,400 in Varanasi seven-eight years ago. "But, today it is not more than 700-800," said Chowdhary. Holding poor planning responsible for the deteriorating condition of the Ganga, he said in the existing system, only 100 MLD sewage was treated while the daily discharge was over 250 MLD.
Special coins made by IIT, Rorkee will be distributed by Narmada Samgra Sanstha on the eve of Bharatiya New year eve Gudi Parva. These coins will carry out purification of Narmada water for 150 years.
According to Secretary of Narmada Smagra Sanstha, Shri Anil Madav Dave, “ The Narmada water is being used for the drinking purpose, therefore these special coins will play significant role in water purification. On the auspicious eve of Gudi Parva on the both the banks of river these coins will be made available. Because in Bharatvarsa river is considered as sacred so from ancient times coins are thrown into river by the devotees”.
Further explaining how these special coins will work, he stated that, “these special coins contain 96% of copper and 4% of silver. The ions of copper and silver get mixes into the water and searches for opposite charged pollutants like bacteria, virus, fungi, etc. The positive ions get attached with negatively charged microbial cells, resulting into electrostatic compound. Due to this microbial cells are unable to take any nutrient. Copper ions penetrates inside the bacterial cells and makes space for the silver ions. And these silver ions abruptly affect DNA and RNA process, thereby halting the making of new cells. Consequently, bacteria are destroyed. These silver ions remains activated for long times until absorbed by any biological system”. (Originally in Gujarati)
Despite being polluted, the waters of the Ganges still possess ‘medicinal qualities’ and could pave the way for developing new ‘anti-microbial compounds’.
Lucknow:According to a research conducted by a senior scientist of Lucknow-based National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), a prestigious CSIR laboratory, Dr Chandrashekhar Nautiyal, the Ganga waters have ‘anti-bacterial qualities’.
Dr Nautiyal’s research paper has been published in the International Journal ‘Current Microbiology’.“The study was conducted to validate the ancient knowledge about the antimicrobial effect of Ganga water and to evaluate the potential of Ganga water to explore the possibility of using it as a source of antimicrobial compounds”, Dr Nautiyal told Deccan Herald here. “The objective of this study was to evaluate the incorruptible self-purificatory characteristic and microbial community structure of Ganga water, when spiked with E.coli O157:H7”, he said.
E.coli is a worldwide cause of infection in humans and animals. E.coli O157:H7 is responsible for causing diarrhoea and urinary tract infection, he added. It is common knowledge that Ganga water does not putrefy, even after long periods of storage. Water has been used from time immemorial for remedial purposes. Most religious beliefs involve some ceremonial use of ‘holy’ water.
Ernest Hankin, a British bacteriologist, reported in 1896 on the presence of marked antibacterial activity against Vibrio cholerae, which he observed in the water of the Ganga and suggested that it might help to decrease the incidence of cholera in people using water from the Ganges. Though invisible, it was possible to show that this principle was particulate and it was called ‘bacteriophage’.“Thus in a way the world owes the discovery of bacteriophages to the Ganges water”, Dr Nautiyal said.
He said during the research it was found that E.coli could survivie for only three days in a three-day old sample of Ganga water. The bacteria survivied for seven days in the Ganga water sample collected eight years back while it lasted for 15 days in a 16-year old sample of the Ganga water.
The E.coli however survived for longer time in boiled water, he said. A study of factors affecting the survival of E. coli in Ganga water is of great interest due to its importance as an indicator of fecal pollution in natural waters. It is ancient knowledge that Ganges water does not putrefy, even after long periods of storage, thus water from the Ganges has for millennia been regarded as incorruptible, Dr Nautiyal said.
Dr Nautiyal says this quality of the Ganga water could be used to develop a new anti-biotic which could be more useful in fighting bacterial infections. “There is however need for more research in this regard”, he said.
I am the shark among the fishes, and the Ganges among the rivers - Krishna in Bhagavadgita
In his book Discovery of India, Jawaharlal Nehru says: The Ganges, above all is the river of India, which has held India’s heart captive and drawn uncounted millions to her banks since the dawn of history. The story of the Ganges, from her source to the sea, from old times to new, is the story of India’s civilization and culture, of the rise and fall of empires, of great and proud cities, of adventures of man
River Ganga/Ganges with its source in the mighty Himalayan mountains is considered to be the most sacred river by Hindus. The waters of Ganga (referred to as Ganga jal) is believed to be self cleansing in nature and it is said that a single dip in the waters of this holy river will wash away all the sins of a person!
The last rites of the thousands of Hindus are performed at the numerous ghats along the shores of Ganga at the holy sites like Kashi, Varanasi etc. Thousands of human bodies are consigned to this holy river. Millions of Hindus take bath in the waters of this river day in and out and millions more in a single day during festival seasons throughout the year. And yet there is no sign of contagious diseases spreading from person to person due to contact through this river water! Nor is there any sign of things like skin disorders etc after bathing in this river!
A river which is 2525 kilometers long, which has been the lifeline of the entire stretch of the Ganga-Yamuna plains, with over 300 million dependents today, why is Ganga considered so sacred? What is the secret behind its water?
Antibacterial Nature
In 1896, E. Hanbury Hankin (a British physician) after testing the water of Ganga wrote in a paper published in the French journal Annales de IInstitut Pasteur ,
The bacterium Vibrio Cholerae which causes the deadly Cholera disease, when put into the waters of Ganga died within three hours! The same bacteria continued to thrive in distilled water even after 48 hours!
He also suggested that the water of this river and its tributary Yamuna were responsible for containing the spread of this deadly disease cholera in the region in those days!!
Anti-putrefication
C.E. Nelson, another British physician noticed that, the waters of Ganga when taken even from one of its dirtiest mouths at Hooghly, by the ships returning to England, remained fresh throughout the long journey!! Normally river water begins to putrefy over a period of time due to lack of oxygen which promotes the growth of anaerobic bacteria, which in turn gives rise to the smell of stale water.
Cleaning the dead!
In 1927, Flix dHerelle , a French microbiologist, was amazed when he saw that only a few feet below the bodies of persons floating in the Ganga who had died of dysentery and cholera, where one would expect millions of germs, there were no germs at all!
In other words, Hindus had for thousands of years rightly believed that Ganga purifies the dead bodies, which is why probably the bodies of even those who died of infectious diseases were offered to this river for purification!
Recent Research
D.S. Bhargava, an Indian environmental engineer/professor of hydrology has spent a life time studying the amazing properties of Ganges. He measured the remarkable self cleansing ability of Ganges in an exhaustive three year study which showed that Ganges is able to reduce its biochemical oxygen demand levels much faster than other rivers! Bhargava says that the self-purifying quality of this river leads to oxygen levels that are 25 times higher than any other river in the world.The Ganges cleans up suspended wastes 15 to 20 times faster when compared to other rivers!
In a study conducted by the Malaria Research Center in New Delhi it was observes that the water from the upper reaches of Ganga did not host mosquito breeding, and also prevented mosquito breeding in any water it was added to! On the other hand, water from other rivers were shown to allow mosquito breeding!
Why?
There are two major factors which give Ganges its unique ability.
1. The presence of Bacteriophages which gives it the anti-bacterial nature.
2. An unknown factor called the Mystery Factor, which gives this river an unusual ability to retain dissolved oxygen from the atmosphere!
Bacteriophage
Bacteriophage are those viruses which kill bacteria. What a cat is to a mouse, the bacteriophage is to a bacterium. In fact what Hankin reported in 1896 about the antibacterial nature of Ganges was the first modern observation/documentation of a Bacteriophage ! It was Herelle, (who again observed the anti-bacterial nature of Ganges) who coined the term Bacteriophage (meaning bacteria eater ) for these viruses.
The high levels of oxygen in the waters of Ganga gives it the unique ability to remain fresh over a prolonged period of time. The waters of Ganga when added to other water resources in adequate amount, causes the bacteriophage in it to quickly multiply cleaning the new water resource of any bacteria present in it. Which is why the ancient Indians used to take Ganga jal back home to clean their local water resources! People practice it even today, except that most of them dont know the actual reason!
In other words, the water of river Ganga can be an alternative for using antibiotics to treat bacterial diseases! Ancient Indians who used the water of rivers like Ganga never required any antibiotics, for the very water they used was anti-bacterial in nature! This type of Bacteriophage Therapy has been suggested by many researchers, but rarely tried/tested or practised in the health industry.
In fact it was in the former Soviet Union that the most active research about using bacteriophages to treat bacterial diseases was done at the George Eliava Institute ! This research institute was co-founded by George Eliava and Felix DHerelle after DHerelle introduced Eliava to the wonderful world of Bacteriophages.
The death of anti-biotics?
Today more and more bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. The world is running out ofantibiotics! We need an alternative, and a potential alternative is Bacteriophage therapy.
The emergence of pathogenic bacteria resistant to most, if not all, currently available antimicrobial agents has become a critical problem in modern medicine, particularly because of the concomitant increase in immunosuppressed patients. The concern that humankind is reentering the preantibiotics era has become very real, and the development of alternative antiinfection modalities has become one of the highest priorities of modern medicine and biotechnology. - Source Phage International
Phage Therapy Research in India
GangaGen Biotechnologies , a bio-medical research company based out of Bangalore, is now leading the alternative therapy of Bacteriophage based treatment for antibiotic resistant bacteria. It is the first firm to have developed bacteriophage based commercial products. Their first bacteriophage based product was to treat the problem of E.Coli in Cattle.
Industrial Pollution
Having said all this, all along the course of river Ganga, today 27 major towns dump over 900 million litres of sewage/industrial waste into it every day! This nonsense should be stopped at any cost. Humans have no rights to pollute the natural resources of this planet. If we cant handle our waste, we shouldn’t be producing it in the first place. Rather than being an individual’s symbolic effort to fight pollution, it should be an enlightened mass movement of entire humanity to create non-polluting technology out of the science we know.
The very fact that almost all the technology that we possess today in the name of development and modernization is polluting, proves that the technology we have created using modern science is still primitive. It has more to do with our greed, than with science.
As Mahatma Gandhi once said, Earth Provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed.
=Hinduism and Nature= Respect Earth, Protect Her, Stop Pollution, Go Green, Act Wisely -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Earth was not created by God to be partitioned into artificial geographic regions, over which men will then foolishly war with one another. Rather, she is a living being, a mother, a woman, a Goddess, whom we are to love, respect and
nurture - as she so patiently nurtures us. In the Hindu tradition, Mother Earth even has a name: Bhu-devi.
To worship the Goddess is to honor the Earth and all the creatures. In the Vedic literatures mother Earth is personified as the Goddess Bhumi, or Prithvi. She is the abundant mother who showers her mercy oh her children.
Incident from the scriptures : ------------------------------------------- The Earth Goddess, Bhoodevi, nourished all humankind with Her bounty, She was venerated by sages and seers; She belonged to all. But then humans sought to possess Her and plunder Her wealth. Enraged by this callous new attitude toward Her, the goddess refused to let any seeds sprout or any plants bear fruit. Humanity began to starve and die away. Moved by their plight, the God Vishnu descended to Earth as the patriarch Prithu and tried to make peace with Bhoodevi. But she refused to forgive humankind; She ran away from Prithu in the form of a cow. Prithu decided to take a harsher approach, pursuing Her on his chariot and threatening to shoot Her with arrows.
“If you harm me,” She warned, “the world will cease to be.” “I do not wish to harm You,” he replied. “I want You to feed mankind.”
“Why should I nurture those who do not respect me?” She asked.
“Fear not,” He told Her. “I shall make sure humans respect their Mother Earth and treat Her as a cow treats Her calves. I will be Gopala, the cowherd, protecting You from danger.” And so it came to pass, Prithu instituted the practice of prudent economics and taught mankind to draw on the Earth’s resources without exploiting Her. He also established the sacred laws of Dharma that ensure stability in society, and maintain a harmonious relationship between mankind and the world around. Pleased with this, Bhoodevi called Herself Prithvi, beloved of Prithu.
But the lesson remains, and may yet return to destroy humankind — as exploitation replaces respect, will She continue to nurture us and give us life? (Source : Internet) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh Devi, bless us with your divine blessings. Grants us fulfillment, prosperity, peace, abundant food, water and air. You take care of Us and we will take care of You, Mother Earth.
- Om Swastiastu - Jai Bhudevi Prithvi - Hari Om
Saturday, 3 November 2012
Here are some interesting articles I came across about some of the latest research in the field of sound and its effect on the surrounding environment. It might provide a wonderful insight on the scientific nature of Tantra, which was known to Rishis long ago, and currently brought to the common man by great souls such as Shri Paramhans Nikhileshwaranand Ji and others.
In 1967, Hans Jenny, a Swiss doctor, published the book Cymatics - The Structure and Dynamics of Waves and Vibrations.
In this book Jenny showed what happens when one takes various materials like sand, spores, iron filings, water, etc., and places them on vibrating metal plates. What appears are shapes and motion - patterns which vary from the nearly perfectly ordered and stationary to those that are excitingly chaotic and constantly in motion. Jenny created an invention of his own called a tonoscope which made use of crystal oscillators to set these metal plates into motion. Unlike in previous experiments. Jenny could precisely control the rate of vibration and repeat experiments attaining identical results.
"The tonoscope was constructed to make the human voice visible without any electronic apparatus as an intermediate link. This yielded the amazing possibility of being able to see the physical image of the vowel, tone or song a human being produced directly. Not only could you hear a melody - you could see it."
In his research with the tonoscope, Jenny noticed that when the vowels of the ancient languages of Hebrew and Sanskrit were pronounced, the sand took the shape of the written symbols for these vowels. Experimentation with modern languages general produced chaos. Is it possible that the ancient Hebrews and Indians knew this? Could there be something to the concept of "sacred language?" Would other sacred languages produce similar results ie. Tibetan, Egyptian or Chinese. These languages have always proposed that they have the capacity to influence and transform physical reality through the recitation or chanting of sacred syllables and mantras.
One of Jenny's most interesting results with the tonoscope was produced when he took a vibrating plate covered with liquid and tilted it. "The liquid did not yield to gravitational influence and run off the vibrating plate but stayed on and went on constructing new shapes as though nothing had happened." If, however, the oscillation was then turned off, the liquid began to run. But if the tonoscope was turned back on and the vibrations re-established, quickly, before the liquid ran off the plate he not only could prevent the liquid from leaving the plate but actually set it back into its original position. According to Jenny, this was an example of an anti gravitational effect created by vibrations.
Jenny, also, pointed out the resemblance between the shapes and patterns we see around us in our physical reality and the shapes and patterns he generated in his experiments. Jenny stipulated the theory that biological evolution was a result of vibrations.
"There is a similarity between cymatic pictures and quantum particles. In both cases that which appears to be a solid form is also a wave. They are both created and simultaneously organized by the principle of pulse (the principle of vibration). This is the great mystery with sound: there is no solidity! A form that appears solid is actually created by an underlying vibration." (Beaulieu)
In his book, Jenny says that the key to understanding how we can heal the body lies in our understanding of how different frequencies or "tones" influence our physical reality.
We don't often think of the physics of sound, and the fact that sound has power to effect physical objects. Just the mere fact that you perceive sound shows this vibrational nature. The sound waves cause your eardrums to vibrate, which causes a chain reaction in your middle and inner ear. This eventually causes nerve impulses to reach your brain that are perceived as sound.
To truly appreciate the power that sound can have, it helps to think of two examples. An earthquake is actually a series of sound waves caused by two plates of earth sliding by each other in a quick motion. The scraping that ensues causes a sound wave to be produced. Sound travels faster in the air than it does in the denser earth, so you can often hear an earthquake before you feel it. We all know about the power and destructive capabilities of an earthquake. Another example of the destructive power of sound is the ability of some singers to break a glass merely by singing a particular note. Both the example of the earthquake and that of the singer illustrate the characteristic principle of resonance.
Our bodies also resonate or vibrate in response to and in concert with sound waves that we are exposed to. In fact, there is some fascinating research that's been done that even shows the relationships of this resonance to the planets of our solar system. Our DNA and RNA molecules, which are the building blocks of our very chromosomes, resonate to an octave tone (a musical relationship) of the earth's rotation pattern. Is it any wonder that with our DNA vibrating in concert to the energies we are exposed to, that when we listen to certain kinds of music we could be damaging our own bodies and those of future generations (through our chromosomes).
The different frequencies of the sound waves that are produced when a musical instrument is played correspond to various musical notes. For example, a sound wave that produces the note that is commonly called "concert A" vibrates at a frequency of 440 cycles per second (hertz or Hz). Different parts of your body resonate with different notes and the harmonics produced by different types of musical instruments. Each one of us becomes a magnificent dance of tissues, cells, molecules, atoms, and energy fields swirling in rhythm to the beat of the sound waves. When this dance is a dance of harmony, it is healing and life giving. When the dance is one of dissonance and disharmony it brings on disease and it takes away life energy.
This dance of nature to sound and music was visually demonstrated by two different scientists in similar ways. An eighteenth century physicist named Ernest Chladni investigated the effects of sound an music on matter by sprinkling sand on steel disks and watching what happened when a violin played various notes. The changing patterns that were produced were striking in their symmetry and artistic and mathematically precise patterns.
In this century, Dr. Hans Jenny took Chladni's work a few steps further. Dr. Jenny devised a device he called a "tonoscope," which consisted of a metal plate on top of an oscillator. The oscillator produces vibrations in the plate that are adjustable according to volume and pitch. When different materials are placed on the tonoscope, patterns emerge in response to the vibrations that are very much like patterns found in nature. For example when paste is placed on the tonoscope, a patterns emerges which looks like the early stages of cell division. Other substances mimicked honeycombs and nautilus shells. A pattern produced when a crescendo of sound vibrated through powder looked remarkably like the iris and pupil of an eye.
However, one of the most fascinating results occurred when Jenny used a microphone to vibrate the tonoscope. When he uttered the ancient mantra, AUM or "Ohm", a pattern was produced which consisted of a perfect circle filled with concentric squares and triangles. Coincidentally, the very same pattern is found in the yantra or geometric artwork that has been used for centuries in the East to represent the AUM, the so-called mantra of mantras. Once again, science demonstrates the profound relationship that sound has with matter.
Another profound relationship that sound has with our bodies and minds was discovered by a French ear specialist named Dr. Alfred Tomatis. Dr.Tomatis spent decades measuring the affects of different sound frequencies on our bodies. He researched which frequencies boost energy and which ones deplete it and how they bring about these effects. He came to a startling conclusion. Dr. Tomatis says, "The ear is made not only for hearing. The ear is designed to energize the brain and body."
How can we possibly get energy through our ears? Well, in our previous discussion of the power that music has, we talked about resonance and how the right frequencies of sound waves produce sympathetic vibrations in other physical objects, including our bodies. Tomatis discovered that certain kinds of music, which had an abundance of certain frequency ranges, actually were effective in recharging the central gray nuclei cells in the brain. These cells act like tiny batteries that power your brainwaves. You would expect that these tiny batteries must be recharged by your body's internal systems and metabolism. Tomatis found otherwise.
Dr. Tomatis discovered that it wasn't something inside you that recharged these brain cells, it was certain frequencies of sound from outside your body that provide the recharge. As sound travels through your inner ear, it whirls around and around through the coils of the snail shaped cochlea. From there it comes upon a long line of 24,600 cells called Corti cells, which dance a perfectly synchronized dance to each sound. This dance of the Corti cells produces energy that splits off, some going to the brain and some going to the vestibular branch of your auditory nerve and then to the muscles throughout your body.
So, with all we've discussed about the benefits of certain kinds of music, what kinds of music would you expect to have the ability to produce the most energizing of the brain as well as the most release of muscle tension and improvement of bodily functions and posture. The same Baroque and Classical music that we've discussed before, especially those pieces rich in strings, produce frequencies that Tomatis found to be energizing and healing. In fact, Tomatis found that it is possible to rejuvenate your ears with sound.
Dr. Tomatis developed and patented a devise he calls the Electronic Ear. This device emits bursts of different high and low frequency sounds, alternating from ear to ear. This process effectively exercises the muscles of the middle ear so that they get in shape and work as they are supposed to. Tomatis found that sounds in the range of 5,000 to 8,000 hertz recharge the cells that are like tiny batteries in our brains the fastest. He also found that the music that is the richest in these high frequency sounds is that of Mozart. And, he went on to pinpoint those sounds that were damaging to the body and the mind. These were low frequency sounds, like the noise at an airport, a construction site, in traffic, etc. Tomatis also singled out the low pounding sounds in rock music as "brain drain" sounds.
Others have taken the same frequency ranges that Tomatis worked with and found that these appear to universally benefit life. A researcher named Dan Carlson found that 5,000 hertz also energizes plants. He performed experiments in which he embedded a 5,000 hertz pulsed sound (which resembled big cricket sounds) in tapes of Baroque and other classical music. He played these tapes to plants as he sprayed them with a nutrient mix. He found that the plants showed a 700 percent increase in efficiency of absorbing the nutrients. It was discovered that this frequency of sound actually helps the little pores on the plant's leaves called stomata, to open up. Guess what the frequency of bird song is. Yes, it's around 5,000 hertz. And who says nature doesn't have a plan. You'll find that in areas that don't have a lot of birds singing, there's not a lot of plant growth either.
Speaking of plant growth, Dan Carlson found that his mix of life enhancing music and spraying of nutrients on his purple passion plant produced some record results. He was able to take a plant that normally grows to a height of around 18 inches and produced a plant that grew 1,400 feet long in the course of two and a half years! This feat earned Mr. Carlson and his plant a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Researchers have also applied this 5,000 hertz frequency to studies on people. A recent test was done using this frequency added to Baroque music played while people ate dinner at a restaurant. It was found that people who ate to slow classical music ate more slowly, digested better, and didn't gain weight. On the other hand, those that ate to rock music ate very quickly, digested poorly, and gained weight.
In addition to benefiting the body and its functioning, Tomatis discovered that these life giving frequencies could bring psychological health also. He found that he was able to help learning disabled and even autistic children to lead normal lives. One of his lines of research revolved around the sounds that a baby hears when in the womb. Tomatis discovered that by placing a specially sealed microphone and speaker into water he could simulate the sonic environment that a baby experiences before birth. When Tomatis played the sounds of a mother's voice through this fluid media to her autistic child, the child went over and turned off the lights, climbed onto his mother's lap, assumed the fetal position and started sucking his thumb. Over time, by gradually substituting the mother's voice through regular speakers instead of through the fluid media, Tomatis was able to get the child babbling and eventually brought the child to complete normalcy.
Guess which sound frequencies predominate in the fluid environment that Tomatis used. They are some of the same sound frequencies that dolphins make and the same frequencies found quite often in bird song. It was also the same frequencies that Tomatis found to be most beneficial for recharging your brain cells - around 8,000 Hertz!
Choose what you and your children listen to, and choose carefully!
Using sound waves and resonance, we can change the form of matter. When a sound frequency matches the vibrational frequency of any structure, resonance occurs. You can hear examples of this when you sing a note and the same note sounds on a stringed instrument like a guitar or piano. The changes sound produces can be quite dramatic, as in the classic example of a singer shattering a glass with the voice. Sound is now being used in the medical field to treat certain conditions. A treatment called extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy uses sound waves to disintegrate gallstones. In 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state collapsed due to relatively mild gusts of wind. The wind started the main span of the bridge vibrating at it's natural frequency, causing it to sway and ripple violently, then collapse.
Aside from these destructive examples, sound can also CREATE form. Sound can create complex geometric patterns in various substances. Hans Jenny found in his research of cymatics that the sounds of vowels in ancient Hebrew and Sanskrit actually produce patterns that resemble the alphabetic symbols used for the sounds. Jenny invented an istrument called a tonoscope, which allows you see the pattern a sound creates. When the mantra AUM is chanted into a tonoscope, it produces a pattern that looks like the Sri Yantra mandala, the most holy symbol of Hindu tradition. It symbolizes the divine creative aspect of sacred sound, out of which the manifestation of the physical universe is generated, and the merging of one's soul back into the Absolute Consciousness.
Many spiritual teachings speak of the role of sound in manifesting form. In the creation story of the Christian Bible, notice that it says God invoked Light with sound. According to Buddhist teaching...it is said that if AUM is chanted in just the right way, this world will cease to exist in it's present form. courtesy:http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/mantra-tantra-vigyana/149743-scientific-nature-tantras-mantras.html
- Boost your creativity (ScienceDaily, 2010)
